Why Elon Musk Gets Away With It (So Far)

Alex Gibney (0:00)

The crime, really, was not a tech crime.

It was an Elizabeth Holmes-like crime. It was looking people in the eye and saying, oh yeah, this is a solved problem. The Elon gave it to the public way before it was safe. And as a result, at least 67 people are dead, if not more. Once you decide that you're a force for good, you're entitled to bend the rules. Not just a little bit, now you bend the rules a little bit more, and maybe a little bit more.

John Johnston (0:28)

Now, hi everyone, JJ here. Welcome back to The Lounge. Well, I haven't made a video for a couple of days, been doing important things offline, but it has allowed me to reflect on the title of this video, why Elon gets away with it or how he gets away with it, so far that is. And it's because of what's been going on or what's about to be going on in the cultural and political zeitgeist. Now I've been talking about this film in particular, Alex Gibney, who's an Oscar-winning documentarian, has made some excellent films and Elon does not like this. And Alex Gibney has been doing a few interviews, which I've been reporting on over the past week or two.

And so this big documentary is going to be coming out. Here it is, Musk. You might have seen the trailer for it. I'm not going to play it here. But as I said, I've been reflecting on some of the things that he said about noble cause corruption in the interview and some of the things that Elon's been able to get away with when some others really haven't that have been doing, we could say similar things. I mean, it's a fine line. But Alex Gibney made this documentary that you probably have seen. If not, I highly recommend it. Called The Inventor Out for Blood in Silicon Valley about Elizabeth Holmes. And there's also another documentary about to come out by Nathan Fielder about her. I think he actually lived with her before she went to prison.

So it's going to be incredibly interesting. So there's these two documentaries.

One person who went to prison for a machine, a medical machine that her company made. And she said it worked, but it didn't. And so, you know, the parallels with FSD, Alex Gibney is talking about this. We'll have a look. But I just want to remind you of this trailer. Just think about Elon when we when we look at this and the similarities and differences about how Elon's become a trillionaire, public stocks, Tesla, SpaceX, and what happened with Elizabeth Holmes, where she got caught out with this technology that didn't work. She said it did. She wasn't able to say it's going to be next year. It's going to be next year, for instance. You know, looking back on it now, I think it's really interesting. So let's take a look at this.

SPEAKER_3 (2:39)

What do you dream for?

SPEAKER_4 (2:41)

That less people have to say goodbye too soon to people they love.

SPEAKER_5 (2:47)

I had heard about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes. You know, her story is so compelling. She was going to herald a revolution in medical treatment in this country.

Alex Gibney (2:59)

It was obviously such an incredible story. A woman creating this $9 billion company.

SPEAKER_4 (3:05)

Everyone worshiped the ground she walked on.

SPEAKER_6 (3:07)

She could do no wrong.

John Johnston (3:09)

She was the next Steve Jobs.

SPEAKER_6 (3:11)

The idea with the Edison was to stick the lab inside the box.

SPEAKER_3 (3:15)

She wanted Edison devices in every home in America.

SPEAKER_6 (3:18)

This could be the apple of health care.

SPEAKER_4 (3:20)

You all are part of something that is going to change our world. What higher purpose is there? Elizabeth came to me and she described her idea.

It's impossible physically.

SPEAKER_6 (3:34)

Elizabeth was lying about the accuracy of the blood tests. It's all a show.

John Johnston (3:39)

She didn't want anybody to see what was going on in there.

SPEAKER_5 (3:41)

We don't need to explain ourselves to competitive companies.

SPEAKER_4 (3:45)

She aligned herself with very powerful men who succumbed to a certain charm.

Alex Gibney (3:49)

She was deceiving investors to the tune of $400 million.

SPEAKER_6 (3:53)

It comes back to fake it until you make it.

SPEAKER_5 (3:56)

There was definitely something going on behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_3 (3:58)

She had bulletproof glass on their windows.

Alex Gibney (3:59)

Anything I typed was watched.

SPEAKER_4 (4:01)

It was very scary.

SPEAKER_6 (4:03)

Like, what are they trying to hide?

SPEAKER_4 (4:04)

The mantra in Silicon Valley is move fast, break things.